A female restaurant employee, rumoured as the "second suspected case"  has had no fever symptoms for eight consecutive days, local medical experts said Wednesday.

The patient was exposed to the public for the first time by authorities on January 5.

She had tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) antibody on her first test, said Guangzhou Respiratory Disease Research Institute Director Zhong Nanshan on Monday in Hong Kong.

More tests were to be conducted to decide whether she was in fact a suspected SARS case or not, Zhong added.

Tests have been conducted everyday, but the results remain unknown, said a source in provincial medical circles.

The wording "suspected case'' was denied Guangzhou Municipal Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Deputy Director Wang Ming on Monday.

"The patient has had no fever for nearly 10 days,'' Wang said yesterday.

The result, suspected or not, will be made fully clear in the next couple of days, said Guangdong Provincial CDC Deputy Director Xu Ruiheng, when commenting on Monday's original news release.

"Our treatment for her has been exactly the same as treating a suspected case,'' Xu said.

However, it's groundless to say the patient is a suspected case, he said.

"What we have done is only for a perfectly safe purpose so as to avoid even the slightest possibility of another outbreak of the virus,'' Xu added.

Local citizens have remained calm when faced with the SARS-related news. The restaurant the patient worked at has closed and it bears a board reading "being decorated.'' Residents in the same building said the decoration noise from that house went on all night long on January 3.

Her 20 or so colleagues have been gathered and relocated to a building in Guangta Road, Yuexiu district.

The provincial forestry administration has decided no new licences for wild animal trade will be issued in Guangdong as part of moves to prevent another SARS outbreak

First case

The 32-year-old television producer, who is the only confirmed SARS case contracted out of laboratory since last July in the world, is expected to be discharged from hospital today.

Only one person of the 81 people believed to be in contact with him is still under medical observation.

All of the others are said to be healthy, which indicates that there has only been a single official case and that any chance of spreading was effectively contained, experts said .

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Health spokesperson Deng Xiaohong yesterday confirmed that Beijing has no SARS patients or suspected cases so far.

Local public health departments in Beijing have conducted strict measures to prevent the spread of SARS since late last month, when the latest suspected case of SARS was found in Guangdong Province.

Hospitals in the capital strengthened monitoring and examination of fever cases, especially those from Guangdong.

Strict temperature monitoring was conducted upon passengers at all municipal entry and exit points, including railway stations and airports. Anybody with temperature of over 37.5 C will be sent to designated hospitals as soon as possible.

A man named Cao Haiwen was sent to special clinics of a railway hospital by a 120 emergency team last night from the Beijing West Railway Station after medical personnel found him with a temperature of 39.2 C while entering the station.

With no other apparent SARS symptoms, Cao was under observation last night. Doctors said he may be charged out of hospital if his temperature drops under 38 C in 12 hours after treatment.

Officials reported no similar findings at Beijing Railway Station. And over 400 district and county level emergency teams in Beijing are on alert around-the-clock, said sources.

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